Invention jet prints nanostructures with self-assembling material

This atomic force microscope image shows directed self-assembly of a printed line of block copolymer on a template prepared by photolithography. The microscopes software colored and scaled the image. The density of patterns in the template (bounded by the thin lines) is two times that of the self-assembled structures (the ribbons).
This new approach for the fabrication of nanostructures was developed by a multi-institutional, international team of engineers and was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (grant CMMI 07-49028). The ability to fabricate nanostructures out of polymers, DNA, proteins and other "soft" materials has the potential to enable new classes of electronics, diagnostic devices and chemical sensors used in the semiconductor and magnetic storage industries.
(Date of Image: August 2013)
Credit: Serdar Onses, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign